Abstract
The main aim of this study is to get the idea of the degree of contamination in the coastal fishing area of Pakistan and to highlight the importance of solving the problem of environmental pollution. For this purpose fifteen fish species belonging to four different families i.e. Clupeidae, Scombridae, Coryphaenidae and Engraulidae were collected from Karachi Fish Harbor and presence of parasites and lead was detected in them through microscopy and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Presence of parasites in gills and GIT although is a common phenomenon but we have found these in the muscles of almost all the families studied, an indication that the fish is not suitable for the consumption. The presence of lead, a heavy metal, in the fish is a strong indicator that the environment is contaminated with heavy metals which usually is from the effluents of industries. Although the analyzed fish samples showed the lead values to be under the permissible limits established by Food safety authority of Ireland (FSAI), but is giving the indications that there is a need of continuously monitoring the levels of heavy metals in the aquatic environment.
